I smoked over a pack a day for 15 years and got really overweight. Now I'm an endurance junkie with lots of marathons, century rides, half and full ironmans, and ultramarathons under my belt. Check back often to watch the progress from smoking 26.2 cigarettes a day to running 26.2 miles, or from Iron Lung to Ironman.

Friday, September 25, 2009

Le Tour

Thanks for all the well-wishes for the new job. I am really looking forward to getting back amongst the living. It's going to be a tough and strange transition. But we will take it one week at a time and do anything needed to make it all work out. It's tough to sell a house in the wintertime. I still need to get rid of the mountain house. We have another rental property here in Greenville that I'm on the fence about. It's had the same good tenants for the last 4 years, and there's no real reason to sell it. But we could roll that equity into the new house in Raleigh.

I'm going to have to get a car and a cell phone too. It's been fantastic (the last 18 months) not having to pay for insurance, extra gas, and having a second car in the garage. Or paying for the second cell phone line. But I guess it has to be done now.

I'm also so glad I didn't settle for less than the best opportunity. So many times if you are out of work you will take the first thing that comes along. This was the first time I had the luxury to hold out. I write vb.net, and C# is a competing language that I also write some. I turned down a fantastic salary several months ago because it was a C# job in the wrong city. I was very dissapointed last month when I didn't get a C# job that paid $15k less than this one does. But I know this is the right environment, the right languages, the right salaray, the right location. And I have to embrace that fact as I listen to my family try to bribe me to stay in Greenville. Or at least keep the kids here.

---------------------------------------------------I tried running again last night without success. After 3 steps it was back to the limpy gimpy form with hip pain. So weird. So I hopped over to the elliptical and knocked out 6 miles, mostly during halftime of the USC/Ole Miss game. It felt good. I'm done complaining about the hip though.

Today it is supposed to be 85 and cloudy here in Greenville. Tomorrow it is supposed to be 70 and raining. Then Sunday it goes back to 82 with a chance of rain.

I'm looking forward to the ride, really. It will be my first time trying 60 miles, which I'm going to do a few more times before the B2B. The route starts at an office complex in Spartanburg and goes up to Gaffney (home of the Giant Peach water tower) and back in a big loop. There's no serious climbs, just a bunch of rollers. So IF the rain holds off until the afternoon it should be a great ride. I'm going to try and bring the small camera with me and take some pictures. It should be a good litmus test for the B2B bike leg. If I can cover 60 miles of rolling hills in a decent time/speed, then I will know how much I can push the flat course at the half ironman.

So I'm looking forward to a fun weekend, and I'm so glad it's friday. Good luck if you're running Ironman 70.3 Augusta this weekend! I'll be tracking.

I gotta get me a real bike wunna these daze. When Ian, Teh 'B. and I were on vacation in Teh Great Concavity, the resort we stayed at had two bike trips, and I took them both and I got to ride a real mountain bike and those two trips (and the softball game) were my absolute favorite things of the whole vacation.

About Me

I am a sterotype living Raleigh, NC with the wife and 2 kids. 40+, endurance junkie with a penchant for marathons, trail, and triathlon races. It keeps me smoke free and happy. I also enjoy organic gardening and healthy eating, and work as a software developer.